Pulverized fuel feeding stoker



y 1933. F, c. PICKARD 1,908,047

PULVERIZED FUEL FEEDING STOKER Filed May 2, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet l N INVENTOR H'anfi c Pia/mm Q m a;

,3 BY 7 U 64; ATTORNEY May 9, 1933. F. c. PICKARD PULVERIZED FUEL FEEDING STOKER Filed May 2, 1929 3 SheetsSheet 2 INVENTOR flunk QH'c/fard A TTORNE Y y 1933" F. c. PICKARD hmfifi fl PULVERIZED FUEL FEEDING STOKER Filed May 2, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 I N VEN TOR B KZJZDI'CKHIZZ 6% W A TTORNEY Patented May 9, 1933 f UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE FRANK C. PICKARD, OF ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE STANDARD STOKER COMPANY, moonronnrnn, A

CORPORATION on DELAWARE PULVERIZED FUEL FEEDING STOKER Application filed May 2,

The invention relates to locomotives and particularly to the application thereto of pulverized fuel feeding stokers.

In the firing of locomotives, the usual practice is to use run-of-mine coal; that is to say, coal comprising various sizes, running from fine dust to large lumps. The Stoker must be capable of handlingcoal it comes from the mine or be equipped with means for adapting the fuel for delivery to thefirebox. This requirement is of especial importance in connection with the use of pulverized fuel, as otherwise it would be necessary to install pulverizing machinery in connection with practically every fuel bin along the road, and to construct special forms of tenders to carry such fuel.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a pulverized fuel feeding stoker including a pulverizer and means for feeding fuel thereto, including a crusher for reducing the larger lumps to such size as the pulverizer can operate upon; the device be ing so organized that it may be mounted upon the tender of a locomotive and under the fuel bin thereof and be provided with suitable motors for driving the feeding and crushing elements and for driving the pulverizer and delivering the fine fuel to and through a suitable conduit discharging into the firebox of the locomotive.

While the invention may be variously embodied, a suitable form is hereinafter described and is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a detail, central, vertical, longitudinal section of a locomotive and its tender embodying the invention with some of the parts, however, shown in elevation;

Fig. 2 is a plan View corresponding to Fig. 1 with portions of the tender broken away;

Fig. 3 is a front end elevation of the tender looking in the direction of the arrows and being taken on a line 3--3 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical section on a line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

A portion of the rear end of a locomotive is represented at 10, its firebox being indicated at 11, its backhead 12 having 1929. Serial No. 359,801.

a firing opening at 13, and the deck of its cab at 14. The tender is indicated generally at 15, its'fuel bin being shown at 16, and its coal gate at 17. The floor 18 of the fuel bin is provided with a central elongated opening 19 covered in part by shiftable plates 20, as is usual in connection with tenders equipped with stoker mechanism.

A fuel trough 21 is located belowthe fuel opening 19 and extends to the forward end r 26, one of which is shown in section in Fig.

1. The base of this crusher is located in close relation to the vane of the screw as plainly indicated in Fig. 1 and the radial diameter of this vane is such that it will carry from the trough only lumps'of such size as can be operated upon and reduced by the pulverizer. While the screw vane is shown as of uniform radial diameter throughout, the above limitation as to its size is of importance only in connection with its final turn.

The pulverizer 25 may be of any desired form, which will effectively reduce the fuel to the necessary fineness and produce ablast for blowing it into the firebox.

There is shown a pulverizer of known form having a receiving throat 24, heaters 27 28 and 29 for reducing the fuel, and a fan 30 for ejecting the fine material through a nipple 31 to which. is attached a flexible conduit 32 leading to a delivery nozzle 33 projecting into the fireboxthrough the opening 13. The casing enclosing the pulverizer heaters and fan is provided with suitable induction ports as 34 for the admission of air necessary to combustion.

Separate motors are providedfor driving the transfer and crushingscrew and the pulverizing device, the motor for the former ber ing conventionally shown at 35 and provided with a universal joint to drive the shaft 36 which is connected with the rear end of the shaft of the screw 23 by suitable gearing housed within a casing 37 at the rear end of the trough 21 The motor for .the pulverizer is preferably a turbine operating at a higher speed than the motor 85 and isconventionally shown at 38. And the heaters and fan may be mounted directly upon its shaft.

The entire device except the conduit 32 and nozzle 33 is mounted upon the tender and below the fuel bin floor, and the stoker, therefore, occupies no space required for the use of the operators of the locomotive. Furthermore, by the use of the apparatus of this invention, existing locomotives adapted to burn lump fuel can very readily beconverted to burn comminuted fuel Without change in the character of fuel supplied to the tenders and with little, if any, change being made to tenders of existing form.

I claim as my invention:

1. Ina locomotive having a firebox and a tender for said locomotive, a fuel bin located on saidtender, a trough below the tender floor arranged to receive lump fuel from said bin, a transfer screw mounted in said trough for advancing said lump fuel, means 1n sald trough for granulating said lump fuel to a predetermined size, a pulverizer arranged to receive said granulated fuel from said means,la flexible conduit delivering to said firebox and a blower for blowing the pulverized fuel through said flexible conduit, and means for operating said transfer screw at a slow rate of speed and means for operating said pulverizer and blower at a rapid rate of speed, said trough, pulverizer, blower, means for operating the transfer screw and means for operating the pulverizer and blower all being mounted on the tender and beneath said tender floor.

2. In a locomotive having a firebox and a tender for said locomotive, a fuel bin located on said tender, a troughbelow the tender floor arranged to receive lump fuel from said bin, a transfer screw mounted in said trough for advancing said lump fuel, a crushing jaw arching over the final turn of the screw flight and spaced therefrom. a distance suitable for crushing said lump fuel to: a predetermined smaller size, a pulverizer arranged to receive fuel from said crusher, a flexible conduit delivering to said 'firebox and a blower for blowing fuel through said flexible conduit, said pulverizer and blower being mounted at one side of the trough at the forward enduof the tender, a slow speed motor for operating said transfer screw and a high speed motor for operating said pulverizer and blower, said motors being located at the forward end of the tender below the floor'thereof.

8. In a locomotive having a firebox and a tender for said locomotive, a fuel bin located on said tender, a trough extending longitudinally below the tender floor arranged to receive lump fuel from said bin, a restricted throat at the forward end of said trough and a passage extending forwardly from said throat, a pulverizer mounted at the forward end of the tender at one side of the trough, said passage being provided with a lateral opening communicating with the pulverizer, a transfer screw mounted in said trough extending through 

